Several commercial single dose dispensing packages include of film and/or foil (each or together hereafter sometimes referred to as “web”) walls which are sealed around their edges to form a hermetically sealed compartment to store a dispensable product. These packages are commonly referred to as pouches or sachets, and are typically produced and filled using Form-Fill-Seal machines. Other single dose dispensing packages include a blow molded compartment which comprises a narrow neck for filling the content which is hermetically sealed after filling. In this application we refer to the above dispensing packages as “flexible packages”. Single dose flexible dispensing packages usually comprise means for easier opening of the package without the need of applying excessive force or use of a sharp tool. These easier opening means include a slit in the edge of the package, a score across the package, or a tearable section of the package wall. Single dose flexible dispensing packages are commonly used in the beauty industry for cosmetic or perfume samples, and in the food industry for packaging a personal portion of sauce, and have the advantage of a superior barrier wall that can maintain longer shelf life for the product. One disadvantage of flexible wall packages is that they require two hand operation for opening. Another disadvantage is that the opening of the package is a ruptured wall section which does not provide quality dispensing experience in a controlled fashion, and is not designed to accept a fluid transport device for improving the dispensing quality, and the content of the package is expelled at the open edge of the package (usually smearing or flowing on the external surface of the package).
A number of commercially available single-dose flexible dispensing packages and US patents and present a special approach for opening the package. In these packages part of the package wall is a rigid and relatively brittle plastic backing that has a frangible section in form of a score or a groove such that when said backing is bent or folded this frangible section will break and allow the product to dispense. Exemplary dispensing packages that practice this approach include Donavon US Pat. Application 20060283727, Redmond U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,574, Redmond U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,715, Hoyt U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,400 DeVries U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,409; Kaufman U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,013; and Koptis U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,264 all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The '409 patent discloses a disposable liquid applicator including a pre-scored container such that a liquid within the applicator is dispensed into an absorbent material positioned on the exterior of the applicator at a point where the applicator snaps open when two opposing ends are bent away from the pre-scored portion.
The '013 patent discloses an applicator package with a foam applicator attached to a backing member having at least one reservoir formed of a flat sheet material for containing a material to be applied. The flat sheet material has a slit or weakened portion under the foam applicator so that, when the distal ends of the package are forced toward one another, the package ruptures along the slit or weakened portion thereby dispensing the material into the foam applicator. In addition to this embodiment, the '013 patent discloses several embodiments of the package designed for controlled dispensing and application of the material, including foam contained within the package, a “Band Aid” style opening, scrubbing bristles attached to the exterior of the package, and neck-down receptacles (similar to the design of the '409 patent).
The '264 patent to Koptis discloses a pouch-like container for dispensing ingredients via built-in outwardly pivoting flaps. In order to dispense the material within the container, the user must break apart the flaps. The pouch-like container is created and remains in a folded position.
US Pat. Application 20060283727 provides examples for constructing the device and recommended materials. The reference discusses the need for limiting the length of the rupture in the frangible wall section so as to leave smooth sections at the longitudinal ends of the backing.
What the above prior art is lacking is an approach for controlling the fashion in which the product is dispensed to enable applications that demand more than arbitrary smearing or absorption into a sponge. All of the above prior art are designed for direct application of reservoir content(s) to a surface and are not designed to direct the content exclusively to a fluid transport device, which is essential for several applications that require other types of dispensing. In addition, in the above prior art the product tends to burst out as soon as the frangible wall section breaks since the rupturing action occurs in a snap.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to improve upon the prior art by providing a fluid transport device for dispensing the content(s) of the package.